Cara Delevingne and Gene Hackman belong in different kinds of career conversations in 2026. Delevingne has a new album, Not Normal, to place alongside her acting work. Hackman, who died in 2025, left a film career that can be explored through his performances and awards. The sources reviewed here do not establish a collaboration between them.
The contrast is between an artist releasing her first full-length album and an actor whose performances now form a screen legacy. Delevingne’s album gives listeners something new to explore; Hackman’s films offer several very different points of entry into a long acting career.
Cara Delevingne’s newest chapter is a full album
Apple Music’s release listing dates Not Normal to September 25, 2026 and identifies 12 songs with a running time of 37 minutes. Delevingne’s official website also promotes the release. Calling it merely a new single would miss the scale of this project.
The album listing describes it as her first full-length release, but that is different from saying she had never recorded music before. The same catalogue includes I Feel Everything, released for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets in 2017. The new milestone is the album, not the existence of a musical career from nothing.
The record includes “Crazy, Baby,” “Need It” and the title track, “Not Normal.” For readers who encountered Delevingne through fashion or film, the album is a substantial musical project rather than a one-song extension of a screen role.
The stage role that adds context
Delevingne’s move between forms also includes theatre. British Vogue reported in February 2024 that she would make her stage debut as Sally Bowles in the West End production of Cabaret. Vogue’s March 29 coverage subsequently described the debut after the show’s press night. That is useful historical context for readers who know only the modelling side of her public career.
The Sally Bowles role places her musical work in a wider context. By the time Not Normal arrived, she had already taken on a stage character built around songs and performance. Her 2024 theatre appearance and 2026 album remain separate projects, but together they make the musical part of her career easier to see.
Gene Hackman’s career is now a retrospective
The Associated Press’s obituary reported Hackman’s death at 95 in February 2025. His work included crime dramas, westerns, comedy and comic-book films. Readers approaching that body of work have several different starting points, rather than one role that stands for everything he did.
The Academy’s own records provide two particularly clear landmarks: he won the actor award for The French Connection at the 1972 Oscars and supporting actor for Unforgiven at the 1993 ceremony. The latter ceremony honoured films released in 1992, a distinction worth keeping when comparing dates.
The range extends beyond those two award-winning roles. AP’s account also recalls Hackman as Lex Luthor in Superman, the title character in The Royal Tenenbaums and a surveillance expert in The Conversation. These credits lead in different directions: a comic-book antagonist, a family comedy and a tense character study.
Where to begin with their work
With Delevingne, the practical question is what she is making now and how it relates to her earlier work. With Hackman, it is which part of an established filmography a reader wants to discover. One invites attention to a new release; the other invites a return to existing performances.
A listener interested in Delevingne’s present work can begin with the album. Someone curious about her earlier musical output can return to “I Feel Everything.” For Hackman, the two Oscar-winning performances provide a clear starting pair, while the other films show how far his screen work ranged beyond them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Not Normal an album or a single?
It is an album. Apple Music lists 12 songs and a September 25, 2026 release date.
Was Cara Delevingne in Cabaret?
Her 2024 West End stage debut was as Sally Bowles. That historical credit is not a statement about the production’s current cast.
Which films earned Gene Hackman his Oscars?
The French Connection earned his leading-actor award at the 1972 ceremony. Unforgiven earned his supporting-actor award in 1993.
Final Thoughts
Cara Delevingne’s Not Normal adds a full-length music release to her screen and stage work. Gene Hackman’s career can be revisited through roles that move from crime drama and westerns to comedy. One story is still accumulating new projects; the other lives on in the performances available to rediscover.
Image credits. Photos: Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 3.0); Reagan White House Photographic Office / National Archives (Public domain; US federal government work). Cropped and paired; separate photographs. Photographic adaptations shared under the linked source licence(s); site logos are separate. Photo: Christopher Macsurak (CC BY 2.0). Resized.
